One Hour
by Kiarene
Summary: 1x2x5 “What would you do if you’ve only one hour to live?”


**Title:** One Hour  
**Author: **Kiarene  
**Pairings:** 1x2x5  
**Rating: **PG  
**Summary: **"What would you do if you've only one hour to live?"

**Published: **10th July 2004  
**Disclaimer:** Mine! …not.

**Feedback: **I would love to hear from you. This was a random ficlet that occurred to me as I was reading another fic.

One Hour 

"What would you do if you've only one hour to live?"

Wufei shifted painfully, wetting cracked lips with a swollen tongue as he thought. He probably had a broken rib, if not more. Talking would probably use up their fading energy faster and dehydrate them, but… They were as good as dead anyway. Wufei wet his lips and opened his mouth.

"The question is… irrelevant," a nasal voice cut in. Heero lay so still, eyes closed and breaths so shallow that he looked like a corpse. Almost as an afterthough, he rasped, "…baka."

The silence and darkness of their cell hung heavily around them, the only sounds in the small chamber was their laboured breathing. All three pilots had already been injured badly in the battle, and their captors were not especially gentle.

"Is not," Duo shot back weakly. "It's all… too relevant."

"I've never thought about it," Wufei admitted hoarsely. He gave a rusty laugh. "I've always thought I would die in battle, so I never thought about the possibility of a slow death."

"And you, Heero?" Duo asked when it appeared that Wufei wasn't going to say anything more.

"Like Wufei, I've never thought about it," Heero replied flatly. "Now shut up. You're wasting energy."

"Why bother? Nobody will riding to our rescue, at least not in time," Duo said. There was a dead, sombre tone to his voice, almost resigned, something the other two boys have never heard before from the normally hyper teenager. Wufei turned his head sharply to look at the American pilot, ignoring the ache the sudden movement caused.

"I… I first thought about it when …the Maxwell Orphanage was burning down around me."

The other two boys were shocked; Duo rarely spoke about his past. Even Heero had opened his eyes to look at Duo.

"I was hiding under the bed… I heard the panicked screams and I smelled the smoke and I felt the heat — I was so sure I was about to die." Duo continued in a monotone, his emotionless tone at odds with the words he spoke. "That probably saved me, even if I didn't realize it then. Lying on the floor under the bed… I didn't die of smoke inhalation and the bed protected me from falling debris. But I didn't know that, and all I could think about then was that I wanted chocolate…"

"Chocolate?" Wufei asked disbelivingly.

"Hn." Heero snorted.

"I know. What a baka." Duo gave a giggle, though it sounded more like a gurgle. "But I never had chocolate before, and earlier that same day, Father Maxwell bought a bar and shared it among us orphans. Of course by the time it was divided up, each of us got a piece the size of my pinky nail. It was cheap chocolate but I loved it."

Wufei blinked damp eye lashes and blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "If we get out of here… I'll buy you all the chocolate you want."

"Even Miles's?" Duo named the most expensive brand he knew.

"Anything you want," Wufei promised. He grinned. "I'll bring you to one of those chocolate buffets, one with a fountain of molten chocolate."

"Oh….Chocolate!" Duo moaned greedily. "I'll hold you to that, Wu-chan!"

"The baka will be so hyper," Heero grumbled, the faintest hint of teasing humor in his voice.

"But this time, it will all be Wufei's fault," Duo joked, some of his humor restored. The three boys grinned — even Heero's mask cracked a bit as his lips twitched. If their grins and chuckles seemed a bit too forced and bright, well, nobody pointed it out.

"Since then, it became a habit of mine," Duo continued.

"To crave for chocolate?" Wufei couldn't resist.

"That too. No, I meant thinking about what I would do if I've only one hour to live," Duo joked in macabre humor. "Now you know what Shinigami thinks about. Ironic, actually."

"Duo…" Wufei said hesistantly.

"Ah, don't worry Wu," Duo said lightheartedly. He shifted, turning to lie on his right so that he could see the other two boys. He was glad that it was his left arm that broken as he cradled that arm carefully, and not his right. "It's actually a rather pleasant way to pass the time, believe or not. I'll fantasize about all the things I want to do, sky's not even the limit. Visit Paris and bungee off the Eiffel Tower, and then run away before I get caught. Yup. Have great sex."

"Are you implying sex isn't great now?" Heero demanded mock-coldly.

"Have great sex one more time," Duo injected hurriedly with a grin. "Spray paint Nataku pink—"

"In which case you would only have an hour to live," Wufei growled. "What about Wing?"

"Oh, Wing already looks stupid," Duo snerked back without missing a beat, ignoring the outraged cry from Heero. Blithely, he went on. "Post pictures of Une in her flowered nightgown and sleeping mask and hairnet — bet you didn't need that image — all over the net. Post pictures of Zechy in his preferred sleepwear on the net. "

"So what does he wear?" Heero deadpanned, following Duo's example. It was a talent of Duo; he annoyed and irritated the two stoic Asian pilots, and they had undergone torture training, but he was also the only one that draw them out of their shells. In an odd way, he grounded them.

"Pyjamas… Baby-boy blue pyjamas, fuzzy of course," Wufei said in a similar tone and Duo grinned.

"With footies…"

Duo laughed.

"…and a butt-flap." Wufei smirked evilly. "Because Trieze likes it."

Even Heero gave a bark of laughter at that, and Duo was laughing so hard, he was crying. "Gods, Wu! I knew hahaha… you can be kinky, but… hahaha…"

"Why Chang, have you been thinking of it?" Heero asked when Duo stopped laughing, not the slightest hint of innuendo in his voice.

Wufei pulled himself up carefully and turned towards Duo, a sliver of ivory flashing in the darkened cell as he smirked. "Oh, of course. As a matter of fact, I had bought one such pyjamas for Duo, for Christmas. I'm sure he would …enjoy the convenience greatly."

Duo blushed and Heero snickered. The braided pilot enjoyed being spanked; his lovers speculated it might be due to the strict and religious though loving environment back in the orphanage.

Wufei's smile faded and he began to pull himself across the flagstone floor, slowly, until he lay between his lovers. Lying on his back in exhaustion and wincing as his ribs throbbed painfully, The Chinese boy had lost his hairband sometime during the fight and his hair fell across his face, but for once, he didn't care. Wufei carefully reached out for each boy's hand. Immediately, their hands curled around his.

"If I only had one hour to live, I'll do what's important," Wufei said slowly, his tone abruptly sombre. His eyes fluttered close. "I'll spend it with my loved ones. I'l make sure they knew it."

Heero and Duo didn't reply; they squeezed his hands tightly instead.

"I'll make sure they knew I love them… and that I wasn't afraid to die because I… I'm not alone."

Wufei's voice grew fainter; the boys' breathing grew weaker, more labored. But their hands remained tightly entwined.

** End **

**A/N: **I know the ending's open ended, but I thought it was a good place to end. As to whether they get rescued, well, I'll leave it up to your imagination! grins I know some people prefer a happy one, others an angsty one…


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